Black Sick Spider
by Lamia of the Dark
Summary: The Black family secrets are darker than anyone would have guessed, and a tangled web is woven as a sick spider poisons his prey. AU. WARNINGS: Rape, incest, mentions of alcohol abuse.
1. Fragile Shrapnel

**DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.**

**A/N: This isn't a sequel to Pseudo Sacrosant Perversion so much as it is another story using the same starting point. PSS could technically fit within the canon, while this fic will be stepping firmly into AU territory. I'll apologize now for the wildly varying chapter length.**

**Dedicated to Azzie, Amaya, and Ella. (This is what y'all get for encouraging me!)**

**WARNINGS: Rape, incest, mentions of alcohol abuse, and _I will do my level best to rip your heart out and stomp on it_. You have been warned.**

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 1: Fragile Shrapnel -

Cygnus preyed on his sister, Orion rescued her, and now every day is a struggle to _save_ her. Something is broken inside her, leaking poison, eclipsing her inner light, eating away at the edges of her sanity.

Walburga's first instinct to dull the pain is to go to the liquor cabinet. The glass is halfway to her mouth when the memory springs unbidden to the forefront of her mind-

_Her brother laughing as he pours her glass after glass of Firewhisky, until she can't remember how many she's had or what he thought was funny in the first place._

_Her brother laughing as he pins her arms above her head, laughing at her as she tries to fight him but can't, telling her cruelly that no one would have married her anyway as he holds both of her wrists in one hand and uses the other to push her skirt up to her waist_.

She throws the glass against the wall. It shatters, sending amber liquid and shards of fragile shrapnel raining down on the carpet.

She calls out for Orion and he is there in an instant, wrapping her in his arms, telling her that she is safe, that he is here to protect her.

He does not tell her that things are alright, because they are not. He does not tell her that she will be alright, because after what happened to her, how can she ever be alright again?

~to be continued~


	2. If I Start Screaming, I Shall Never Stop

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 2: If I Start Screaming, Then I Shall Never Stop -

They sleep in separate bedrooms, but he often wakes to the sound of her weeping. On those nights, he goes to her and she clings to him, burying her face against his chest, until she cries herself to sleep in his arms. Sometimes she remains quiet through the night; he does not know whether to be relieved or more worried at those times.

Tonight, she comes to him in his room, crawling into bed with him and laying her head on his shoulder in a silent plea to be cuddled.

"Nightmare again, love?" he asks softly, as he turns on his side and drapes one arm over her waist.

"I haven't slept yet," she whispers back.

He presses a light kiss to her forehead.

"Perhaps you would sleep better if you and I shared a bed the entire night?"

She pulls away from him slightly at the suggestion, and he lets her go.

"I would do nothing more than hold you," he tells her. "You know I would never force myself on you."

Yes, she knows. He promised her the same thing the night he rescued her from her brother, and the same again on their wedding night. It has been nearly two months since the wedding, and their marriage still has not been consummated - and does not look to be so any time in the near future. For as much as Walburga believes that she could willingly be with her husband in that way someday, she is not ready.

He waits; she knows that whichever decision she makes, he will accept it with no qualms. She has no way of telling which choice would be better for her sanity (which, she can tell, is slowly slipping away). Not knowing what is best for herself, she decides instead to pick the option she thinks will make Orion happy.

"Yes," she says. "Let's try that." Walburga snuggles close to her husband and once she is safe in Orion's arms again, she is at ease enough to reveal her fears. "I keep waiting for the pain to end," she whispers, "but it never does."

"They say that time heals all," he replies. "And the worse the wound, the more time is needed before it will stop hurting."

"I want it to end _now_," she complains, pressing closer to him. "I can't stand this feeling anymore. Sometimes I feel as though I just want to scream."

"Perhaps you should," he says. "You may feel better once you get it all out."

"But if I start screaming, then I shall never stop."

~to be continued~


	3. Firewhisky Kisses

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 3: Firewhisky Kisses -

Even when she is sleeping within her white knight's embrace, she is never truly at peace, never safe from the contents of her own mind.

_Her brother's mocking voice, sarcastically commending her strategic retreat to Uncle Arcturus's library, for the books and magical artifacts here are surely better company to her than their female relatives who do nothing but pester her about getting married and carrying on the bloodlines._

_"As if they don't know that Father can't find anyone who's willing to take you," he sneers. "Not that you aren't beautiful, of course, but that personality of yours-" He lets out a low whistle. "-turns men right off. Not gonna lie, Sis, you'd make a shitty wife."_

_He laughs, loudly and for a long time, as though he thinks he's told a rather amusing joke._

_He pours them each a glass of Firewhisky from the bottle he brought with him. He is probably already drunk, although when sober and not in public, his manners are nearly as terrible as this, so she can't be sure. He sips his drink slowly. She downs hers in one go, and he chuckles as he refills it for her without being asked._

_"Cheers!" Cygnus calls out, raising his glass._

_She finishes her second glass as quickly as the first, wondering idly when he will get bored of teasing her and go away._

_"Aw, don't look at me like that, Sis," he says, after catching sight of her expression. "I wasn't telling you those things to be mean."_

_The words "but they're true" hang in the air _between them_ unspoken and he doesn't have to say them for her to understand what he's implying._

_"You are beautiful, you know," he says, no hint of sarcasm or teasing in his tone this time, but it may well be narcissism that compels him to say it, for they are brother and sister and (aside from being opposite genders) they look almost exactly alike._

_As he leans over her to refill her glass again, he dips his head and captures her lips with his._

_Her reactions are slowed by the alcohol - she doesn't normally indulge in more than a single glass of wine, and the Firewhisky is strong. After a moment she manages to push him away._

_"What in the hell was that, Cygnus?"_

_"Just a little brotherly affection, Sis, nothing to get worked up over," he brushes it off with a shrug, and refills her glass._

_She sips her drink slowly this time. Cygnus does the same, chattering about the things their relatives did and said tonight at the party._

_When the third glass is empty, he refills it again. Once the fourth is down, he kisses her again. She is repulsed, not only because he is her brother and this is wrong, but because the kiss is rough and sloppy, and even if she were not closely related to him by blood she is certain she would not be attracted to him - and not because of his looks._

She wakes with tears in her eyes and Orion's name on her lips. He tries to comfort her, as always... and oh, how she wishes her white knight had arrived earlier when he saved her that fateful night - because she thinks that she could have endured remembering her brother's Firewhisky kisses, if not for what had come after.

~to be continued~


	4. Cut in the Shape of a Star

**A/N: The first few chapters were short, I know, but I wanted to have those three scenes isolated from each other.**

**If anyone is wondering (or worrying), I will never go into graphic detail of the rape scene.**

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 4: Cut in the Shape of a Star -

Walburga wakes up slowly, drifting from a for-once-dreamless sleep back to the waking world, where she is cradled in the warmth and safety of her husband's embrace. She is curled into his side, her head on his shoulder, his arm draped loosely around her waist.

_How adorable_, she thinks as she brushes a stray lock of hair back from his forehead. Relaxed in sleep, without the worried expression that often graces his features, he looks so young and cute - and she is reminded that he is four years her junior and only came of age recently.

Orion shifts in his sleep and his hair falls over his face again. As Walburga reaches out to attempt to tame the offending lock once more, the early-morning sunlight catches on the stone of her engagement ring and for a moment she is dazzled by the glittering light. In that moment, Orion comes awake and captures her hand in his, guiding it gently to his mouth, where he presses a soft kiss into her palm. His thumb strokes over her knuckles, pausing ever so slightly as it passes over the rings on her third finger; there is a plain gold wedding band, along with her engagement ring - also gold - which is set with a black diamond cut in the shape of a star.

"Orion..." She slides her fingers free of his, and smooths down his unruly hair. "It's still early. Go back to sleep."

He smiles up at her.

"But how can I go back to sleep when my beautiful wife is demanding my attention?"

And, with that, the mood is broken.

"Don't!" she snaps, scrambling away from him.

"Don't... what?" he asks slowly, nonplussed. He takes in her defensive posture and his expression darkens. Something in what he said to her was triggering, dragging up a memory of her brother and the night of the Black family Christmas party, but he isn't sure exactly _what_. "I'm sorry," he whispers, once he thinks he's found the answer. "I didn't mean to imply that I was prepared to make unwanted advances toward you."

"I don't... I just..." Walburga falters. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to steady her nerves, then lets it out slowly in the form of a shuddering sigh. "It's not that."

"What, then?" he asks.

She opens her eyes but keeps her gaze averted so that she does not have to see his expression as she tells him, "Cygnus... called me beautiful, that night..."

"He did, and now I can't?"

_He sounds... offended,_ she thinks. _No, not so much offended as... hurt_. Perhaps even, jealous? For, even though it was against her will, she has been with her brother in a way that she can't be with him - not yet, anyway. After everything Orion has done for her, the last thing she wants to do is hurt him, but she can't sacrifice her sanity to spare his feelings. More than anything, she wants her marriage to work - she wants to be able to be a proper wife to her sweet and caring savior, not a scarred and broken creature who pushes her husband away because her traitorous mind continues to allow her brother's cruel words to sting her.

"You haven't before," she says, and while he has called her other things that mean the same, it's true that he never used that specific word. "It caught me off-guard."

She is still wary, refusing to meet his gaze, and he isn't sure what to do, isn't sure what she needs from him in this moment.

"It's what he said to me right before he-" Walburga stops, unable to finish her sentence, refusing to speak aloud the name of the sin that was committed against her. She can't stop her mind from replaying the memories of the event, however, and the tears she has been trying to hold back begin to fall.

"Love, please, will you come here and let me hold you?" Orion whispers, opening his arms to her, and his voice is so full of pain that Walburga does not know which of them will be more comforted by the embrace.

She goes to him and buries her face against his chest. He slides his arms around her and holds her tightly against him. She feels safe - _safe, _not_ trapped _\- because while he is physically much stronger than her, she knows that he would never use his strength against her. She knows that he would let her go if she asked. But she does not want to be let go; she wants to stay here in Orion's arms, while he holds onto her as if she is the most precious thing in the world.

Hours later, they are rudely awakened by their house elf knocking on the bedroom door and calling out agitatedly, "Master! Master!"

"Ugh... Kreacher, what?" Orion growls, cranky after being woken in such a manner. "I've told you before that I'm not to be disturbed in the morning. Go away!"

"But it's afternoon, Master!" Kreacher protests. "And Master's sister is here to see Master and Mistress!"

~to be continued~


	5. Dusty Cushions

**NOTE ON AGES:** **I thought that Cygnus and Orion were supposed to be the same age, but going by their canonical birth years, Cygnus is 5 years younger than Orion. Of course, going by their canon birth years, Bellatrix was born when Cygnus was 13 years old, so... For the purposes of this story, I'm going to go with the assumption that the "3" in Cygnus's supposed birth year was a typo which should have been a "2"... which would make him one year older than Orion. (And would also make him actually an adult when his first child is born.) The Black Family Tree drawn by JKR and the one shown in the OOTP movie have two different years for Lucretia's birth year... so she is either the same age as Walburga, or 10 years older than her - for simplicity's sake, I'm going to say they're the same age.**

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 5: Dusty Cushions -

Lucretia Black (for it is still Black, although soon to be Prewett) paces impatiently as she waits, her jeweled heels clicking sharply against the hardwood floor.

"Orion knew I was coming over today. A good host should be prepared to greet visitors personally, and not leave them waiting! Honestly, I thought he'd been taught better manners than that... One should never be forced to interact with another household's elves, really, how unseemly indeed," she mutters under her breath, punctuating her tirade with a petulant stomp of her foot. She immediately regrets this action, as she discovers that it has created a very obvious scratch in the wood.

Lucretia jumps guiltily as the house elf pops into the room. She quickly readjusts her posture and facial expression so that she is holding herself with the dignity and grace befitting a pureblood witch - not that the creature is actually looking at her as it bows and scrapes before her. Either way, she figures she had better get used to playing the respectable lady in private as well as in public, because her wedding is fast approaching, and if there is one thing she has learned about her near-future husband, it is that he prides himself on being a proper gentleman in all aspects of his life. In this, she envies her brother. Being cousins, and childhood playmates besides, Orion and Walburga have known each other nearly their entire lives, and can be themselves around each other in the privacy of their own home - free of all the awkwardness and the societal pressure to _keep behaving properly_ that come as consequences of an arranged marriage.

"Where is my brother, elf?" she demands, prodding the sniveling creature with the toe of one gem-encrusted boot.

"Master told Kreacher to tell Miss Lucretia to wait in the parlor while Master and Mistress make themselves presentable! Kreacher is also told to fetch refreshments for Miss Lucretia if there is anything she wants!"

Unable to suppress a scowl at the elf's terrible grammar, Lucretia waves the overly-excitable creature away.

"No, I am in need of nothing. You are dismissed to continue your other duties."

Once the creature has scurried off to some other part of the house, Lucretia hastens to repair the damaged floorboard with a spell - which, thankfully, takes nothing more complicated than a quick _reparo._ She then sighs and flops down onto the couch in a most inelegant manner. Knowing full well that her actions are rude, childish, and utterly unsuitable for a lady of good breeding to enact while she is a guest in someone else's home (even though her host is not present), she can't quite bring herself to care - at least, not enough to stop her from sulking, anyway.

And she had _so_ been looking forward to this visit! She is the first in the family to be invited over to the house since Orion and Walburga moved into it; the couple have been avoiding all social calls - family and otherwise - since the day they were married.

The house doesn't look too bad, she supposes. For not having been aired out in a few centuries, it doesn't smell _too_ awfully musty. After their rather hasty marriage, Orion and Walburga were granted one of the Black family's lesser-used properties. Lucretia doesn't know where she will end up living after she gets married. She isn't sure where all the Prewett family has property - they are not anywhere near as wealthy as the Black family, but (thank Merlin) they are not nearly as poor as the Carrows or Weasleys, either.

Lucretia wishes she did not have to leave her family, that she did not have to marry at all. She does not want to become a Prewett, which will lower her social station considerably, and - although she knows this is completely vain - she also does not like how the name sounds when spoken, or the way it looks when written.

_If only there were some way to get out of it_... Lucretia thinks to herself as she curls further into the dusty cushions of the ancient couch.

But there isn't. Of course there isn't. She wishes there were some way to duck out of her marriage arrangement without bringing disgrace to her family's name, and she finds herself thinking enviously of Orion and Walburga again. There was a convenient loophole. Would Lucretia consider marrying a cousin (even one so repulsive as Cygnus) if it meant she could remain a Black forevermore? She would, in a heartbeat. But it's too late for her. Her match is already set. Her arranged fiance insisted on a long engagement, but her time as a Black has almost come to its end...

Lucretia is so lost in her reminiscence that she does not hear the footsteps coming toward her.

~to be continued~


	6. Don't You Dare React

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 6: Don't You Dare React -

"Lucretia is here...?" Walburga murmurs, her voice thick with sleep. Although she is conscious, she is not quite awake enough yet to be bothered by the fact that she is still lying half on top of her husband.

"And knowing my sister, she's likely to be upset over being kept waiting," Orion says, trailing his fingers lightly down the length of Walburga's spine. She arches into the caress in a subconscious, catlike motion.

Since the beginning of their marriage, there has been plenty of physical contact between them, both for comfort and out of affection - but never has either member of the couple touched the other in a blatantly sexual manner. And although the light touch of his fingertips against her spine was not _meant_ to elicit such a reaction, it seems that her body does not share the same compunctions as either of their hearts, and reacts with an instinctual sensuality.

He lays his palm flat against the small of her back, desperately attempting to ignore the slight rocking motion of her hips against his thigh.

_She's half asleep and doesn't realize what she's doing_, he internally shouts at himself. _Don't you **dare** react!_

Physically, he remains still. However, he is unable to prevent the maelstrom of emotions that erupts within him. It is as though his newly awakened lust for the woman pressed against him is at war with all of the love he has ever felt for her. And while the mating instincts of a seventeen year old human are strong, he has been in love with her since they were children. He fights his raging teenage hormones with the strength of the conviction that he is the only thing she has left to cling to in this world, and if he were to hurt her now, she would be completely shattered emotionally.

After what feels to him like an eternity (but in reality is a mere handful of moments), Orion manages to tamp down his animal urges, subsequently extricating himself from the warm weight of his wife's body and standing up from the bed.

"Get up. Get dressed." The words come out more sharply than he intended, due to his irritation with himself over his lack of control of his feelings.

"Your sister has always been a bit of a brat. Let her wait," Walburga protests, burrowing further under the covers. She doesn't seem bothered by his snippy tone, even though it is a rare occurrence for him to speak to her that way.

"You can stay upstairs if you don't want to see her," Orion says.

The overly gentle tone of this offer gets Walburga's hackles up.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snaps, throwing the blankets off and glaring at her husband. "Why should I not want to see her?"

"Well," Orion hedges, hesitating to cite her emotional fragility as his reason for assuming such a thing. After a moment he settles on: "We _have_ been avoiding our entire family since our wedding, love."

She makes a dismissive gesture. "_Our family_ in general is quite a different matter than Lucretia in particular."

Being cousins of the same age, Lucretia and Walburga were often pushed together at family gatherings as children, and after much forced interaction they learned to tolerate one another. The two girls were each others' closest friend during their years at Hogwarts, as well. While Lucretia was overall more social than Walburga, they both had abrasive personalities - although the manner in which Lucretia tended to get under one's skin was more subtle and less intentional than Walburga's brash outspokenness.

A timid knock comes at the door, and Orion realizes that the house elf is still standing there awaiting instructions. He hurriedly sends the creature away, telling it to attend his sister's needs while the couple make themselves presentable.

* * *

Lost in her own thoughts, Lucretia does not hear the footsteps approaching. When something furry touches her cheek, she lets out a startled cry and lashes out at the-

-fluffy toy unicorn?

Lucretia blinks to clear her sight. It seems the unicorn staring her in the face is, indeed, not an illusion. It takes her mind another few moments to notice that the toy is dangling from the hand of her second cousin/sister-in-law, who is leaning over her.

"What are you doing?" Lucretia asks, frowning. She looks pointedly at the stuffed animal, in order to ensure that the other witch takes her meaning.

"You fell asleep-" Walburga starts.

"I was _not_ asleep!" Lucretia exclaims indignantly.

Walburga continues as if she had not been interrupted "-on the couch, and we were tucking you in."

Orion is standing awkwardly next to the couch upon which his sister reclines, holding a blanket.

Lucretia does not acknowledge her brother's presence as she weakly protests, "I wasn't asleep..." - while knowing full well that neither of them will believe her, even though it's _true_. "And it isn't as though I'm here to take a nap, anyway! I brought the pictures from your wedding, _like you asked me to_." The last bit is directed at Orion.

"Yes, and we're looking forward to seeing them," he replies placidly.

Walburga tries to hide her surprise at this pronouncement, having had no idea that the pictures even existed - much less that Orion had asked his sister to procure them. Even so, the stuffed unicorn slips from her grasp.

~to be continued~


	7. Get Rid of Him

~ Black Sick Spider ~

\- Chapter 7: Get Rid of Him -

Ignatius Prewett is sitting on the steps outside of the Black family property which now serves as the home of Orion and Walburga. When he had not been able to pass the wards to enter the house, his fiancee told him to wait outside while she fetched her brother to let him in. Over an hour has passed since Lucretia went into the house and no one has come out to get him yet.

He wonders if she will simply leave him here until her visit is over and then pretend that she is surprised to find him waiting for her, claiming to have forgotten that he'd escorted her. She is a bit vindictive and he wouldn't put something like that past her, although he doesn't believe he has done anything to truly warrant her ire.

He sighs and lays his cheek against the cool metal of the cast-iron railing.

When their betrothal was arranged, Ignatius had insisted on a long engagement so that they might have time to get to know one another instead of merely being thrust into a lifelong binding union with a near-stranger. It's been nearly five years now, yet still his Black ice princess seems bound and determined to hold him at arm's length. It is highly likely that she believes him to be below her and therefore not worth her time. Every day he wakes up both hoping and dreading that the morning mail will bring with it a missive from Arcturus Black saying that after careful consideration it appears that a dissolution of the marriage contract between his daughter and Ignatius would be best for all parties involved.

As much as he had hoped this match would work out, it is obvious that his fiancee does not accept him. It seems that his desire to acquaint himself with his future wife before their wedding day will go unfulfilled. Even after all this time, his ice princess never lets the mask of cold indifference drop when she is around him.

_Perhaps,_ he muses, _it would better if I were to put us both out of our misery and break off the engagement myself_.

* * *

In order to make it seem as though the dropping of the unicorn onto her cousin's face had been entirely intentional, Walburga plucks the blanket from Orion's grasp and drapes it over Lucretia's prone form, delivering with it a sarcastic: "Good night, have a nice nap."

In response, Lucretia sniffs dramatically and rolls over onto her side so that she is facing the back of the couch, and cuddles the fluffy toy unicorn against her chest. She fully expects the other witch to retaliate by tickling her (oh, the tickle-fights they used to have when they were teenagers!) or perhaps giving her a playful slap on the ass. As the moments drag by and nothing of the sort happens, Lucretia finds herself feeling a bit disappointed. When did her erstwhile playmate grow up into a "mature" woman who no longer embraced her inner child? True, Walburga had always put more stock in propriety than Lucretia ever did, but not _that_ much more. And speaking of propriety...

"Shit!" Lucretia swears, popping upright. She scrambles up from the couch gracelessly, flinging the blanket aside yet keeping a tight grip on the stuffed unicorn, continuing to swear the entire time. "Shit! Shit! Fuck! Hell!"

Orion and Walburga glance at each other, both confused as to what Lucretia is panicking over.

"Luke," Orion says softly, laying his hands on his sister's shoulders. "What's wrong?"

Lucretia draws in a deep breath, tamping down her hysterics enough to explain, "I left Iggy outside."

"Iggy?" Walburga repeats, nonplussed.

"You know, my fiance," the other witch answers impatiently. "Ignatius Prewett. Father invited him over for lunch, and then he absolutely _insisted_ on having Iggy escort me here... as if I were a child who can't take care of myself!"

"You call him Iggy?" Walburga asks, quirking an eyebrow skeptically. While Orion has always had a tendency to call everyone by a nickname whether they liked it or not, his sister does not generally share his propensity for doing so.

"Not to his face, of course."

"You don't like him?" Orion asks.

"Ugh, he's so boring and _proper,"_ his sister replies, her voice dripping with disgust at the very idea of it. "I can't stand him!"

No one is more surprised than Lucretia herself when she suddenly and without warning bursts into tears. Walburga is the first to react, moving to take Lucretia into her arms. The toy unicorn drops to the floor as Lucretia returns her cousin's embrace.

"I don't want to get married," she sobs, burying her face against Walburga's shoulder.

Orion stands idly by, unsure what to do until his wife commands him, "Orion, go get rid of him."

* * *

Ignatius is startled into wakefulness by the unpleasant sensation of someone taking his shoulder in a hard grip and shaking him rather more violently than he feels is necessary. He lifts his head and finds himself staring into the face of Orion Black - who, upon seeing that Ignatius is awake, says without preamble, "Go home."

Ignatius protests weakly, "Your father asked me to escort Lucretia to and from-"

"I'll make sure my sister gets home safely," Orion cuts him off, scowling. "Leave."

"But-"

"You aren't welcome in my home. Now _leave."_ When if looks as though Ignatius will protest further, Orion draws his wand. "I won't say it again," he warns.

Ignatius unfolds his body from his slumped sitting position on the steps and slowly backs away from his future brother-in-law. The murderous glint in Orion's eyes is unmistakable.

Ignatius holds up his hands in the surrender position and says, "Alright, I'm going."

The door rattles in its frame from the force with which Orion slams it after going back inside.

_Perhaps there is no "mask" and the entire Black family really is that cold and unfeeling_, Ignatius thinks to himself as he turns to leave.

~to be continued~


End file.
